Lions Gate via Everett Collection
When we last left our heroes, they had conquered all opponents in the 74th Annual Hunger Games, returned home to their newly refurbished living quarters in District 12, and fallen haplessly to the cannibalism of PTSD. And now we're back! Hitching our wagons once again to laconic Katniss Everdeen and her sweet-natured, just-for-the-camera boyfriend Peeta Mellark as they gear up for a second go at the Capitol's killing fields.
But hold your horses — there's a good hour and a half before we step back into the arena. However, the time spent with Katniss and Peeta before the announcement that they'll be competing again for the ceremonial Quarter Quell does not drag. In fact, it's got some of the film franchise's most interesting commentary about celebrity, reality television, and the media so far, well outweighing the merit of The Hunger Games' satire on the subject matter by having Katniss struggle with her responsibilities as Panem's idol. Does she abide by the command of status quo, delighting in the public's applause for her and keeping them complacently saturated with her smiles and curtsies? Or does Katniss hold three fingers high in opposition to the machine into which she has been thrown? It's a quarrel that the real Jennifer Lawrence would handle with a castigation of the media and a joke about sandwiches, or something... but her stakes are, admittedly, much lower. Harvey Weinstein isn't threatening to kill her secret boyfriend.
Through this chapter, Katniss also grapples with a more personal warfare: her devotion to Gale (despite her inability to commit to the idea of love) and her family, her complicated, moralistic affection for Peeta, her remorse over losing Rue, and her agonizing desire to flee the eye of the public and the Capitol. Oftentimes, Katniss' depression and guilty conscience transcends the bounds of sappy. Her soap opera scenes with a soot-covered Gale really push the limits, saved if only by the undeniable grace and charisma of star Lawrence at every step along the way of this film. So it's sappy, but never too sappy.
In fact, Catching Fire is a masterpiece of pushing limits as far as they'll extend before the point of diminishing returns. Director Francis Lawrence maintains an ambiance that lends to emotional investment but never imposes too much realism as to drip into territories of grit. All of Catching Fire lives in a dreamlike state, a stark contrast to Hunger Games' guttural, grimacing quality that robbed it of the life force Suzanne Collins pumped into her first novel.
Once we get to the thunderdome, our engines are effectively revved for the "fun part." Katniss, Peeta, and their array of allies and enemies traverse a nightmare course that seems perfectly suited for a videogame spin-off. At this point, we've spent just enough time with the secondary characters to grow a bit fond of them — deliberately obnoxious Finnick, jarringly provocative Johanna, offbeat geeks Beedee and Wiress — but not quite enough to dissolve the mystery surrounding any of them or their true intentions (which become more and more enigmatic as the film progresses). We only need adhere to Katniss and Peeta once tossed in the pit of doom that is the 75th Hunger Games arena, but finding real characters in the other tributes makes for a far more fun round of extreme manhunt.
But Catching Fire doesn't vie for anything particularly grand. It entertains and engages, having fun with and anchoring weight to its characters and circumstances, but stays within the expected confines of what a Hunger Games movie can be. It's a good one, but without shooting for succinctly interesting or surprising work with Katniss and her relationships or taking a stab at anything but the obvious in terms of sending up the militant tyrannical autocracy, it never even closes in on the possibility of being a great one.
3.5/5
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Robert Zemeckis is a blockbuster director at heart. Action has never been an issue for the man behind Back to the Future. When he puts aside the high concept adventures for emotional human stories — think Forrest Gump or Cast Away — he still goes big. His latest Flight continues the trend revolving the story of one man's fight with alcoholism around a terrifying plane crash. Zemeckis expertly crafts his roaring centerpiece and while he finds an agile performer in Denzel Washington the hour-and-a-half of Flight after the shocking moment can't sustain the power. The "big" works. The intimate drowns.
Washington stars as Whip Whitaker a reckless airline pilot who balances his days flying jumbo jets with picking up women snorting lines of cocaine and drinking himself to sleep. Although drunk for the flight that will change his life forever that's not the reason the plane goes down — in fact it may be the reason he thinks up his savvy landing solution in the first place. Writer John Gatins follows Whitaker into the aftermath madness: an investigation of what really happened during the flight Whitaker's battle to cap his addictions and budding relationships that if nurtured could save his life.
Zemeckis tops his own plane crash in Cast Away with the heart-pounding tailspin sequence (if you've ever been scared of flying before Flight will push into phobia territory). In the few scenes after the literal destruction Washington is able to convey an equal amount of power in the moments of mental destruction. Whitaker is obviously crushed by the events the bottle silently calling for him in every down moment. Flight strives for that level of introspection throughout eventually pairing Washington with equally distraught junkie Nicole (Kelly Reilly). Their relationship is barely fleshed out with the script time and time again resorting to obvious over-the-top depictions of substance abuse (a la Nic Cage's Leaving Las Vegas) and the bickering that follows. Washington's Whitaker hits is lowest point early sitting there until the climax of the film.
Sharing screentime with the intimate tale is the surprisingly comical attempt by the pilot's airline union buddy (Bruce Greenwood) and the company lawyer (Don Cheadle) to get Whitaker into shape. Prepping him for inquisitions looking into evidence from the wreckage and calling upon Whitaker's dealer Harling (John Goodman) to jump start their "hero" when the time is right the two men do everything they can to keep any blame being placed upon Whitaker by the National Transportation Safety Board investigators. The thread doesn't feel relevant to Whitaker's plight and in turn feels like unnecessary baggage that pads the runtime.
Everything in Fight shoots for the skies — and on purpose. The music is constantly swelling the photography glossy and unnatural and rarely do we breach Washington's wild exterior for a sense of what Whitaker's really grappling with. For Zemeckis Flight is still a spectacle film with Washington's ability to emote as the magical special effect. Instead of using it sparingly he once again goes big. Too big.
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David Mitchell's novel Cloud Atlas consists of six stories set in various periods between 1850 and a time far into Earth's post-apocalyptic future. Each segment lives on its own the previous first person account picked up and read by a character in its successor creating connective tissue between each moment in time. The various stories remain intact for Tom Tykwer's (Run Lola Run) Lana Wachowski's and Andy Wachowski's (The Matrix) film adaptation which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. The massive change comes from the interweaving of the book's parts into one three-hour saga — a move that elevates the material and transforms Cloud Atlas in to a work of epic proportions.
Don't be turned off by the runtime — Cloud Atlas moves at lightning pace as it cuts back and forth between its various threads: an American notary sailing the Pacific; a budding musician tasked with transcribing the hummings of an accomplished 1930's composer; a '70s-era investigatory journalist who uncovers a nefarious plot tied to the local nuclear power plant; a book publisher in 2012 who goes on the run from gangsters only to be incarcerated in a nursing home; Sonmi~451 a clone in Neo Seoul who takes on the oppressive government that enslaves her; and a primitive human from the future who teams with one of the few remaining technologically-advanced Earthlings in order to survive. Dense but so was the unfamiliar world of The Matrix. Cloud Atlas has more moving parts than the Wachowskis' seminal sci-fi flick but with additional ambition to boot. Every second is a sight to behold.
The members of the directing trio are known for their visual prowess but Cloud Atlas is a movie about juxtaposition. The art of editing is normally a seamless one — unless someone is really into the craft the cutting of a film is rarely a post-viewing talking point — but Cloud Atlas turns the editor into one of the cast members an obvious player who ties the film together with brilliant cross-cutting and overlapping dialogue. Timothy Cavendish the elderly publisher could be musing on his need to escape and the film will wander to the events of Sonmi~451 or the tortured music apprentice Robert Frobisher also feeling the impulse to run. The details of each world seep into one another but the real joy comes from watching each carefully selected scene fall into place. You never feel lost in Cloud Atlas even when Tykwer and the Wachowskis have infused three action sequences — a gritty car chase in the '70s a kinetic chase through Neo Seoul and a foot race through the forests of future millennia — into one extended set piece. This is a unified film with distinct parts echoing the themes of human interconnectivity.
The biggest treat is watching Cloud Atlas' ensemble tackle the diverse array of characters sprinkled into the stories. No film in recent memory has afforded a cast this type of opportunity yet another form of juxtaposition that wows. Within a few seconds Tom Hanks will go from near-neanderthal to British gangster to wily 19th century doctor. Halle Berry Hugh Grant Jim Sturgess Jim Broadbent Ben Whishaw Hugo Weaving and Susan Sarandon play the same game taking on roles of different sexes races and the like. (Weaving as an evil nurse returning to his Priscilla Queen of the Desert cross-dressing roots is mind-blowing.) The cast's dedication to inhabiting their roles on every level helps us quickly understand the worlds. We know it's Halle Berry behind the fair skinned wife of the lunatic composer but she's never playing Halle Berry. Even when the actors are playing variations on themselves they're glowing with the film's overall epic feel. Jim Broadbent's wickedly funny modern segment a Tykwer creation that packs a particularly German sense of humor is on a smaller scale than the rest of the film but the actor never dials it down. Every story character and scene in Cloud Atlas commits to a style. That diversity keeps the swirling maelstrom of a movie in check.
Cloud Atlas poses big questions without losing track of its human element the characters at the heart of each story. A slower moment or two may have helped the Wachowskis' and Tykwer's film to hit a powerful emotional chord but the finished product still proves mainstream movies can ask questions while laying over explosive action scenes. This year there won't be a bigger movie in terms of scope in terms of ideas and in terms of heart than Cloud Atlas.
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While recent animated blockbusters have aimed to viewers of all ages starting with fantastical concepts and breathtaking visuals but tackling complex emotional issues along the way Ice Age: Continental Drift is crafted especially for the wee ones — and it works. Venturing back to prehistoric times once again the fourth Ice Age film paints broad strokes on the theme of familial relationships throwing in plenty of physical comedy along the way. The movie isn't that far off from one of the many Land Before Time direct-to-video sequels: not particularly innovative or necessary but harmless thrilling fun for anyone with a sense of humor. Unless they have a particular distaste for wooly mammoths the kids will love it.
Ice Age: Continental Drift continues to snowball its cartoon roster bringing back the original film's trio (Ray Romano as Manny the Mammoth Denis Leary as Diego the Sabertooth Tiger and John Leguizamo as Sid the Sloth) new faces acquired over the course of the franchise (Queen Latifah as Manny's wife Ellie) and a handful of new characters to spice things up everyone from Nicki Minaj as Manny's daughter Steffie to Wanda Sykes as Sid's wily grandma. The whole gang is living a pleasant existence as a herd with Manny's biggest problem being playing overbearing dad to the rebellious daughter. Teen mammoths they always want to go out and play by the waterfall! Whippersnappers.
The main thrust of the film comes when Scratch the Rat (whose silent comedy routines in the vein of Tex Avery/WB cartoons continue to be the series highlight) accidentally cracks the singular continent Pangea into the world we know today. Manny Diego and Sid find themselves stranded on an iceberg once again forced on a road trip journey of survival. The rest of the herd embarks to meet them giving Steffie time to realize the true meaning of friendship with help from her mole pal Louis (Josh Gad).
The ham-handed lessons may drag for those who've passed Kindergarten but Ice Age: Continental Drift is a lot of fun when the main gang crosses paths with a group of villainous pirates. (Back then monkeys rabbits and seals were hitting the high seas together pillaging via boat-shaped icebergs. Obviously.) Quickly Ice Age becomes an old school pirate adventure complete with maritime navigation buried treasure and sword fights. Gut (Peter Dinklage) an evil ape with a deadly... fingernail leads the evil-doers who pose an entertaining threat for the familiar bunch. Jennifer Lopez pops by as Gut's second-in-command Shira the White Tiger and the film's two cats have a chase scene that should rouse even the most apathetic adults. Hearing Dinklage (of Game of Thrones fame) belt out a pirate shanty may be worth the price of admission alone.
With solid action (that doesn't need the 3D addition) cartoony animation and gags out the wazoo Ice Age: Continental Drift is entertainment to enjoy with the whole family. Revelatory? Not quite. Until we get a feature length silent film of Scratch's acorn pursuit we may never see a "classic" Ice Age film but Continental Drift keeps it together long enough to tell a simple story with delightful flare that should hold attention spans of any length. Massive amounts of sugar not even required.
[Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox]

S1E1-2: AMC's latest drama The Killing premiered last night and some will say it looks familiar. That's not too surprising, especially considering the show itself is a remake of the popular Danish series Forbrydelsen. But even more than that, The Killing tells a story that's been told before. Set in drizzly Seattle, it follows Sarah Linden (Mireille Eros), a homicide detective who lives up to all the stereotypes (tomboyish, single mother, tough, and really damn good at her job), as she tries to figure out whodunit. The mystery? A young girl is missing, and well, since the show's title is The Killing and the tag is "Who killed Rosie Larson?" I think it is safe to say, without spoiling anything, the young girl has been murdered.
Even though the show hits all the marks that, on the surface, would make it a cliche, run-of-the-mill crime drama called something like Law and Order: Seattle Style, it doesn't feel that way. Perhaps that's because AMC, whose motto is "story matters here," isn't afraid of letting things develop slowly (sometimes excruciatingly slowly) over the course of an episode. In fact, each episode is presented in "real-time," meaning that they each represent a single day in the investigation. That may seem a little strange at the onset, but after two hours of drama it doesn't. Unlike the other crime dramas out there, we're actually given an opportunity to think along with the police. We don't know what happened, what's happening, or even what will happen, but we're trying to figure it out. All we have to work with is the moment presented in front of us, whether it's a new clue in the mystery or an interview with a potential subject; and because the show isn't afraid to just let us sit there and breathe for a second, we are actually able to, as an audience, comprehend what's happening and have our own thoughts on the situation. I don't want to call The Killing's premiere flawless, but it was some pretty damn good television.
"Do you know any tweakers who get their sweaters dry-cleaned?" -Linden
The entire first hour of the show is dedicated to finding Rachel Larson's body. The Killing handled this pursuit gracefully. Everybody and everything was a mystery: her parents, her friends, her teachers, and more. There was a state of uneasiness with each person and even though I knew I was watching a murder-mystery show, I still felt a little uneasy about each new introduction. Slowly, as each character developed further and I got to know the show's universe more, that uneasiness morphed into curiosity. From a storytelling perspective, this was very effective because we experienced it in the same way that Linden did. We weren't sure what was happening, but we pursued it anyway, and each fake-out reveal of Larsen was all the more infuriating. Then finally, once we do find the body, we're ecstatic. Obviously, not because the girl was dead, but because our instincts -- and Linden's -- were right.
Eros gives a strong performance in a role that other actresses might not play with such subtly. At the beginning of the episode, we're introduced to her current life: she's a single mother, but she's engaged. She plans to move to San Diego with her son Jack and her fiance, but the Larsen case comes up on the day that she is scheduled to leave. She becomes so engrossed that by the end of the episode, it's clear that something about Larsen grabbed her on a more personal level and it looks pretty doubtful that she'll move to San Diego. Her successor, Stephen Holder, is another potential cliche DIY type cop willing to break any rules and Joel Kinnaman plays him the same way: quiet and reserved. But The Killing presents this guy as a twist on the stereotype. Holder is pretty damn creepy. He borders the line of good cop and potential child molester, and even though those are polar opposite traits, it somehow seems to work. Weirdly enough, it's enjoyable.
"Will you find who did this?" -Stan Larsen
"Yeah." -Holder
Meanwhile, from Rachel's best friend Sterling, the cops find their initial murder suspect -- which unsurprisingly, fizzles out. He's an old boyfriend of Rachel's named Jasper and a teenage rich kid who likes to take ecstasy, go to dive bars and pick up older, lonely single women. Oh, and he also plays a lot of video games. After we meet him, it becomes pretty obvious that he's so much of a cliche villain that there's no possible way that he could be the actual murderer.
"Ripped off her own fingernails to get out." -Captain
After Jasper's ruled out, Larsen's body is finally discovered in the trunk of a car in a lake. Then, the final side of characters is introduced. Seattle city councilman Darren Richmond (Billy Campbell) is a man running for mayor against incumbent Lesley Adams. The cops discover Larsen's body in the trunk of a car registered to Richmond's campaign, but he doesn't know anything about it. He seems like an honest guy who genuinely cares about the public, but there is something more to his situation. Apparently, a tragedy happened in Richmond's life that involved his former wife. When we first meet the councilman, he's paying his respects at a burial site for what we assume is his wife's. His connection to the murder seems purely coincidental and then it's confirmed: it is coincidental. The car was reportedly stolen before the incident happened. At the same time, I'm having difficulty believing that Richmond, or someone inside of Richmond's camp, is not connected to this murder in any form. I doubt that he is the murderer -- especially because if the case is that we have a murdering politician, I will revoke everything I've said about The Killing avoiding cliches -- but there's something more there. Plus, Campbell plays Richmond in a really interesting way. What he wants seems very earnest and he seems like a good man, but there's just something about him that feels a little strange.
Because last night's two-hour premiere was a pilot, it had some of the typical pilot problems -- mainly, one-dimensional characters and a few cliches -- but all pilots have these types of problems. After all, the medium of television -- and specifically, the serialized drama genre -- allows for plenty of time to flesh out characters and fix mistakes. Just look at any successful series pilot in comparison to the rest of the show, you will notice quite a difference. So, this early on, it's pretty difficult to tell whether or not The Killing will live up to the expectations of AMC's other tremendous shows (Mad Men, Breaking Bad), but right now, who cares? "Pilot/The Cage" was a very, very strong start. And aside from perhaps a little too much Seattle rain, the episode had everything I want in a crime drama: mystery, suspense, non-corny humor, and interesting and believable characters. On top fall that, who's not glad to just have some good Sunday night television again?